WHILE most women of a certain age are relaxing with their grandchildren, Lulu shows no signs of slowing down – in fact, the Scots firecracker is splashing down on the other side of the Atlantic and taking on America.

The singer has been busy flying to and from the US in the last few weeks as she prepares to launch her Time Bomb skincare range on QVC at the end of this month and is clearly thriving on the adrenalin.

“I’m a bit nervous and excited, as I always am when I face a new challenge,” she admitted to Saturday magazine.

“It’s been taking up a lot of my time and my main focus at the moment. I was just in Miami for Brit Week, which is a celebration of American and British business.”

And she performed American soul numbers at her first ever New York gig at B.B. King’s club last month, and won rave review from the New York Times and an ecstatic reception from the wall-to-wall crowd of 600 fans.

Given she had her first hit, Shout, in 1964, as a 15-year old, even making her American gig debut at pensionable age was something she took in her stride. She smiled: “It was fun to work in a small club and go back to my musical roots.

Lulu with David Bowie in 1974 (Image: Alpha Photo Press Agency)

“It’s great to combine the music and running my business. Who would have thought at 64, I’d be doing so much? But I seem to be busier than ever and loving it.

“I enjoy being a businessperson – I suppose you didn’t really survive in this industry for 50 years unless you have a good head on your shoulders, you can’t just lollop along, you can’t just be lucky – you have to want it and be driven.”

Lulu probably has no need to work again. So what is it that drives her? “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because I’m Scottish – or that I just love to be busy. I do have to collapse every now and again – the key is a catnap or 20 minutes of meditation.

“But I’m lucky in that I’m blessed with a lot of energy and I don’t do things by halves. I’m not laid-back, which can be a good thing. But it’s probably exhausting for everybody around me. Whenever I say: ‘I’m not doing as much as I used to,’ they all raise their eyes to heaven.”

But three weeks ago she had an unpleasant experience, which would have shaken someone half her age. She was a victim of what is called a “distraction crime” where gangs of criminals target customers at bank cash points.

Lulu was taking money out at a cash point in Kensington when she was targeted by the two young men. One was on the cash point next to her pretending to take money out, while the other was behind her observing her number.

“It seems obvious that you shouldn’t let anyone see you punch your number in on a busy street when there are people walking past and maybe I should have been more conscious but they did it so smoothly,” she revealed.

“One of the guys on the cashpoint next to me told me that it wasn’t working – I was trying to punch my number in and only the first two numbers registered – the third and fourth numbers wouldn’t go in – apparently they insert something into the ATM slot so that your card doesn’t really go in – it just sits there and means they can grab it quickly.

“I was trying not to listen to them both talking to me but it was distracting – and then the one next to me leaned forward and just snatched my card out of the cashpoint and he was gone. The other one was still talking to me and I did a double-take and then I yelled out: ‘He’s got my card.’

“And that was it. This other guy kept saying: ‘The lady before you went to the bank round the corner,’ and I said: ‘Be quiet’. I started to walk away quickly to report it and he walked very fast and ducked down into a car that was waiting for him and he was gone too.

“At my age, maybe I’m not as sharp. But let me tell you, they were brilliant at it. I was shocked and so disappointed in myself that I wasn’t focused enough. It was at least a three-guy operation. I couldn’t describe it as a mugging as there was no contact or physical abuse, but it was horrible and pretty shocking as it was so well planned and slickly executed. I was flabbergasted.

“I was totally taken in by it. I didn’t really want to talk about it but the police told me it may help other people.”

Did they get away with much money?: “Yes, I lost money. Next question,” is her firm reply and she is keen to move on.

Her decisiveness and toughness have seen Lulu survive for five decades in the fickle world of showbusiness and she reflects that what keeps her motivated is that she still loves singing and is passionate about music.

Lulu performs single Relight My Fire with Take That (Image: Philip Ollernshaw)

She enjoys listening to contemporary music and has always kept up with the times, teaming up with Take That in 1993 for the number one Relight My Fire. Being a Scot she’s very impressed with our latest big-selling export. She said: “Emeli Sande is amazing. She’s gorgeous, a great writer and got a fantastic voice.

“If people criticise her for being boring, so what? I never listen to critics – I just look at her record sales.

“She is a true artist and unbelievably talented.”

Her old flame David Bowie has just come out of retirement at the age of 66 and released a new album The Next Day, which went to number one last Sunday.

The pair were linked in 1974 after she recorded a cover of his song The Man Who Sold the World and she confirmed their brief affair in her 2002 autobiography.

“I’ve not heard his album but I’d like to. I’m always interested to hear what he’s been up to. But no, I’ve not been in touch with him for a long time and he has his own life,” she shrugged.

During her career there have been quiet times but she has never actually retired and laughs at the suggestion: “Retire? That’s a dirty word in my house. It’s a word I don’t use – maybe one day I will have to but I will resist it,” she exclaims.

She is currently single: “There’s nothing happening in that department – I haven’t got time for a man!

“It’s all business at the moment,” she says.

Twice divorced, her first marriage was to Bee Gee Maurice Gibb and then to hairdresser John Frieda, the father of her only son Jordan, 35, a restauranteur.

Mother and son are close and she adores being a grandmother – she now has a grandson, Teddy, who is eight months: “My grandchildren are gorgeous.

“They are both fabulous. They are both the apples of my eye and a total delight.”

And Lulu smiles when she says that she is always being upstaged by her three-year-old granddaughter Bella: “And I’m happy to be! I love the focus being on her and not me.

“When I sing with her she goes: ‘No nana, not you – I’m singing!’ This is what I have to deal with.”

Lulu’s ageless looks have always been commented on and she admits were the inspiration for her involvement with her Time Bomb skincare products.

She said: “I love to sing and it was the most important focus of my life and if you’re in the music business it’s about young people – not about old people – so if you want to survive or be relevant you have to give your appearance attention. I bought every product out there, but because I was married to John, I knew Gail Federici who worked for his company. I told her : ‘It’s frustrating, all reporters want to talk is about the way I look. And that’s not all about how I am.” The pair developed Time Bomb together and the singer has been selling her anti- ageing products for five years.

In 2011 she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing and her life is filled with exercise from walking her dog to yoga to working out with her own personal trainer.

“But I always change my regime anyway otherwise I get bored,” she admitted.

“When I am in London I do my friend Jo Manoukian’s dance class and I go a couple of times a week if I can.

“Sometimes I do Pilates and that gets more necessary as I get older.” She puts one of her beauty secrets down to living in the moment: “It’s a real conscious practice – it’s not easy but yeah, I don’t want to rely on the past.”

That is one reason why she would never appear in the Eurovision Song Contest again (she was joint winner in 1969 with Boom Bang-a-Bang): “I wouldn’t do that. Again, it’s all in the past.”

? Lulu’s next QVC show will be on Saturday, April 6 with her Classic Rock jewellery collection and she will be live on QVC all day on Wednesday, April 10 where she will be showcasing her brand new Time Bomb products.